Trajectories of alcohol misuse among the UK Armed Forces over a 12‐year period.
Aim: To identify the main trajectories of alcohol misuse among UK military personnel from 12 years after the start of the Iraq war (2003) and the factors associated with each trajectory. Design Longitudinal cohort study with three phases of data collection (2004–06, 2007–09 and 2014–16). Setting: Un...
| Published in: | Addiction Vol. 117; no. 1; pp. 57 - 68 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
Jan2022
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=153993492&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 153993492 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 09652140 AIO jtl: Addiction issn: 09652140 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Jan2022 vid: 117 iid: 1 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 153993492 151478255 153993492 153993492 10.1111/add.15592 153993492 ppf: 57 ppct: 11 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Trajectories of alcohol misuse among the UK Armed Forces over a 12‐year period. aug: au: Palmer, Laura Norton, Sam Jones, Margaret Rona, Roberto J. Goodwin, Laura Fear, Nicola T. affil: King's Centre for Military Health Research, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, London, UK sug: subj: Alcohol Abuse Trends Military Personnel United Kingdom Time Factors War Iraq Human United Kingdom Iraq After Care Socioeconomic Factors Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic Stress, Psychological Interpersonal Relations Clinical Assessment Tools Checklists Questionnaires Scales Descriptive Statistics Veterans Sex Factors Male Female Comparative Studies Health Behavior Adverse Childhood Experiences Male Female ab: Aim: To identify the main trajectories of alcohol misuse among UK military personnel from 12 years after the start of the Iraq war (2003) and the factors associated with each trajectory. Design Longitudinal cohort study with three phases of data collection (2004–06, 2007–09 and 2014–16). Setting: United Kingdom. Participants: Serving and ex‐serving personnel of the UK Armed Forces (n = 7111) participating at Phase 1 and at least one follow‐up phase of the King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) cohort study. Measurements Trajectories of alcohol misuse were derived from scores using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT‐10) over three data collection phases. Demographic and military characteristics were collected and, among the key covariates, post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was measured using the PTSD checklist (PCL‐C) and childhood interpersonal stress and violence was measured using items from the Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire. Findings Five trajectories of alcohol misuse were identified, including 'no misuse' (n = 2249, 31.6%) and 'hazardous' (n = 3398, 47.8%), 'harmful' (n = 832, 11.7%), 'severe‐to‐hazardous' (n = 258, 5.3%) and 'severe' (n = 374, 3.6%) drinking. Substantial changes were evident only among severe drinkers, where more than half reduced over the study period. The factors most strongly associated with belonging to harmful/severe drinking classes were young age, male gender and childhood adversities and antisocial behaviour. Severe drinkers at Phase 1 were more likely to report probable PTSD and shorter military careers and were less likely to serve as Officers. Persistent severe drinkers were less likely to serve in the RAF compared to the Army and were more likely to be reserves. Not misusing alcohol was also associated with reserve status and having left service. Conclusions: In a cohort of approximately 7000 UK military personnel, trajectories of alcohol misuse appeared stable between 2004 and 2016. More than half of severe drinkers made substantial improvements over the period, but 68% of the cohort continued to drink hazardously or harmfully. Lack of change for the majority of the sample signals the need for strategies to address alcohol misuse and its cultural and psychosocial drivers. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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